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Is Your Insomnia Caused By Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

Do you have a hard time falling and/or staying asleep? Do you constantly wake up too early and feel tired when you do? Insomnia, from mild to extreme cases, is a very common issue. We often attribute it to life stress, environmental factors or an interference in sleep schedule. But, what if your insomnia is actually being caused by something more?

At the Rowe Neurology Institute (RNI) in Kansas City, KS we conducted a survey of over 380 patients who had complained about experiencing chronic insomnia. After completing a Polysomnogram PSG (a sleep study used to diagnose sleep disorders), 76% of the patients were found to be suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). This was a cause for concern for the neurologists at RNI as the patients were being treated with insomnia related medications instead of addressing the root cause of the issue —Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

But, how does Obstructive Sleep Apnea cause Insomnia?

Obstructive Sleep Apnea is the most common form of apnea and occurs when the upper airway becomes narrowed or blocked while you are asleep, causing your breath to pause or decrease. This repeatedly interrupts your breathing while you sleep, creating oxygen deficits and temporary activation of your brain, sometimes lasting only a few seconds. These are called arousals. This in turn interferes with your sleep by bringing you into a lighter sleep state and often times waking you up in order to restore normal breathing. In severe cases, the pauses in your breathing and arousal from sleep can occur as often as once per minute, which constantly wakes up and leaves you mentally and physically exhausted.

Sleep Apnea Does More Than Make You Tired

If you are suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), you are not alone. In fact, 9% of adult females and a remarkable 24% of adult malesexperience sleep apnea. Unfortunately, many who suffer from sleep disordered breathing are mistakenly being treated with insomnia medications, which does not treat the real problem. If your Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is left untreated, insomnia could be just one of many serious health complications you are at risk for.

Neurons based in your brainstem are responsible for regulating your body’s cardiovascular system and maintaining a low resting heart rate. According to a study published in the Journal of Physiology, people who suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) frequently experience a diminishing of this neural activity. As a result, these individuals are at a higher risk of developing an elevated heart rate and high blood pressure, as well as of experiencing adverse cardiovascular events.

In the study, researchers used rats as their test subjects and replicated Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) conditions over a four-week period. During this time, they monitored the synaptic activity of the parasympathetic neurons that control heart rate, as well as recorded changes in the rats’ blood pressure and heart rate.

In summarizing the researchers’ findings, the study leader, Dr. David Mendelowitz of the George Washington University USA, explains that the inhibition of brainstem neurons responsible for maintaining a low resting heart rate can lead to a sustained dulling of cardiovascular reflexes. This means that in the long-term, untreated Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) may increase your risk of developing a irregular heartbeat and high blood pressure.

While the present study sheds light on some of the serious health complications you may experience if you are suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), this research also gives new hope to both doctors and patients seeking to mitigate the long-term effects of sleep apnea, and perhaps especially the established correlation between sleep disorders and stroke.

Utilizing these findings as a foundation, future research in this area will likely focus on exploring possible approaches to the restoration of functionality among the neurons responsible for maintaining heart rate with the aim of reducing the risks of hypertension, elevated heart rate, arrhythmias, and other conditions that accompany Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

Diagnosing Your Sleep Apnea

Unfortunately, the correlation between insomnia and Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is still something that many health care physicians are not aware of. We are so used to blaming insomnia on a psychological condition, that there’s a good chance that if you’ve sought out treatment for your sleep problems, your Obstructive Sleep Apnea was not diagnosed. (This confusion amongst primary care physicians was identified and further explained by a study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings on the Pharmacotherapy Failure in Chronic Insomnia Patients.)

A red flag that you are suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is if you are currently taking any medications or sleep aids for your insomnia and they’re not working. Other symptoms include dry mouth, morning headaches, frequent urination during the night (nocturia) and snoring.

If you think you may have Obstructive Sleep Apnea, you should get a sleep test at a certified sleep center. This will help you identify and treat the real cause of your insomnia and get you back on the road to a good night’s sleep.

Get the Answers You Need

Headaches, neck pain, back pain, sleep disorders, and multiple sclerosis. As the founder and a top neurologist at a major neurology center, I have seen a lot of tough cases of each of these conditions. They’re complex and disruptive to your quality of life. But, what most don’t realize is that they can all be connected. In this guide, I dissect each of these neurological conditions and show you how the symptoms you’re experiencing may all be related.

I have created free online video series to help you better understand your symptoms and disorder and take back control of your life.

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About Dr Rowe

Dr. Vernon Rowe has dedicated his career to finding the root causes of neurologic disorders. In the process, he has explored the amazing complexity of the most complex system in the human body, the nervous system, and has discovered that many of the most common problems in neurology, like headache, hypermobility, sleep problems, neck pain, and back pain are all interrelated. That really shouldn’t be a surprise, because we as human beings have a single body, and everything we do, and all parts of that body, are interconnected.

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